-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- J.C. Chandor is one of Hollywood 's hot new names .

For his feature film debut , `` Margin Call , '' he wrote the script and directed a cast that included Kevin Spacey , Jeremy Irons and Demi Moore . His work on the film , about a Wall Street firm facing collapse after an employee -LRB- Zachary Quinto -RRB- finds out its holdings are going to be worthless , has garnered him an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay . His next film stars Robert Redford as a man lost at sea .

At 37 , he may seem like a wunderkind , but the former commercial director has been looking for his break for 15 years . He spoke to CNN about how the film came together , the challenges of building tension and his promising future . The following has been edited and condensed from the original transcript .

CNN : `` Margin Call '' had a great cast . Were there problems in attracting it ?

J.C. Chandor : Attaching actors was actually not really the challenging thing with the film . Getting actors to say yes is one thing , but having the money there and the crew there and have everything happen at the same time is where you run into quasi-impossibility . For a long time , we had the actors but no money .

CNN : Jeremy Irons plays the head of the firm and pressures it to dump its bad investments on others so it can save itself . He 's been characterized as the villain .

Chandor : The interesting thing is that Jeremy Irons ' character is right , certainly following all norms of common understanding of business ethics . He has a piece of information before anybody else does , there 's a fair market value set for something , and he has a responsibility to his shareholders and his employees and his company to do something about that .

The tension comes from -LRB- the fact -RRB- that the audience wants one of -LRB- the employees -RRB- to do something . Hopefully , as the information travels up the chain of command , you see -LRB- the characters -RRB- in their own way regretting , or glossing over and moving on , or all the different emotions that happen when you see your own role in a tremendously damaging event .

CNN : Your background was making commercials . Any we 'd recognize ?

Chandor : I never was a very prominent commercial director , to say the least . I did a lot of things for energy drinks and Subaru , rally racing and Red Bull . Lots and lots of different industrials . If it was underpaid and under-budgeted , I was doing it .

CNN : Now that you 're an Oscar nominee , are projects now falling into your lap ?

Chandor : Yeah . Amazingly , this has been sort of the cherry on the sundae . The reception to my script once we were in production was very strong . The biggest trick in the game , even at studio films , is to try and get actors attached to your piece . We had managed to attract this cast without any money , without a studio , without anything else . It 's been a slow , pleasant climb over the last two years since we shot the film .

The film was very well received for what it was , which has allowed me to direct again , and everybody made their money back , so I 've been pretty blessed from that standpoint . So now we got ta go keep trying to get the opportunity to do this again .

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J.C. Chandor has an Oscar nomination for `` Margin Call '' screenplay

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Script attracted name actors , but it was hard to get financing , he says

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Movie concerns Wall Street firm holding bad paper at risk of going under